The Local 913 Podcast

Nick Snyder of the folk band Ferdinand The Bull, says playing acoustic music has it’s perks “My favorite thing about playing acoustically-based, is that we can just get up and play. We don’t have to plug in or anything. Everything’s really visceral and real. You can touch it, you can feel it and just grab a hold of it. It feels natural and right.” The band’s sound and energy is extremely romantic. For example, a line from their bio: Ferdinand the Bull is an obsession and a meditation on vulnerability and passion - the inescapable nature of feeling and growing. Synder claims he enlisted his writer-friend to assist him that that one. “She asked me: ‘What is music to you?’ Music is an obsession. It’s something that gets into my head. You’ll be lying in bed and something hits you. And you’re just like (SIGH) and you roll over, turn on the light and record a quick memo on the phone. It’s like you said very romantic to me and very mysterious. It’s just something that’s been with me the whole way. “ Listen to the full conversation with Nick on The Local 913 Podcast. The new album from Ferdinand The Bull is out on August 10. More on the band is at their website. (https://www.ferdinandthebullband.com/)

The indie rock band Scratchy Blanket were formed by married couple Chloe Hodgkins and Shannon Keating about 4 years ago. Lead vocalist Keating has found being in a band a helpful way to present herself properly to people. “I was voted most shy my senior year of high school. I was so mad about it because I just always tried to be friend with everyone. I didn’t feel shy. I just feel like I didn’t enjoy high school and didn’t have a lot to say. [For] whatever reason, I appear shy. But being in a band and being able to write my own lyrics and present myself in a way that I chose and I’m comfortable with, that’s a good way to show who I really am.” Cats play a big role in Scratchy Blanket’s identity as a band. The band agreed to play a local music fest as a motivation to write songs. However, 2 days before the live set, they had not started writing. “And then the cats were just sort of walking around… being cats. We just started writing a song. We wrote three songs that day! I think the first time you hear the songs about the cats, they could be about cats, but you could apply it to people, too. A lot of the feelings I have towards the cats, I would have towards other people.” Listen to the full conversation with Shannon (including much more about the cats!) on The Local 913 Podcast. Check out more on Scratchy Blanket at their Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/scratchyblanket/)

The hip-hop/rock duo BB Guns is made up of featured MC Bars Blackman and vocalist Lazy JP, who met while they were in high school. According to JP: “We actually went to same elementary school. [Barz] was a year lower than me. We knew each other, we were cool and on good terms, but we were just in different circles being in different grades. But afterwards, I knew that he rapped and I was getting into hip-hop. I wanted to get more into it and knew he already [was], so we just hit it off.” JP expanded on the challenge of combining rock and hip-hop. “The relationships that rock and hip-hop have are not always known as critically the best things. Even though I still like that stuff, your Sublimes and your Linkin Parks. [That] stuff that doesn’t age quite as well, but [it] has merit in what they’re putting in there and the eclectic-ness of it. We wanted to do it in more critical, indie way. A lot of rap-rock collaborations come off as cheesey. Gorillaz is a big inspiration. That approach of balancing things was a big guide-post for us” BB Guns new release Thirst is out now. More information at their Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/BBGUNSpgh/)  

The beginning of The Local, a Pittsburgh band, actually has roots in Belfast Northern Ireland. “I moved to The States from Northern Ireland in the early 2000’s. I had a punk rock background. I was in The States for maybe ten years. I had wanted to write music with people, but I just didn’t. I couldn’t find the right people. Eventually, I met Ben Sweet and we made beautiful music together.” That’s Dean Henry, guitarist and vocalist for The Local. Until Henry met Ben Sweet, not only was he immersed in punk music, but he was a drummer who had never played the guitar. “It wasn’t until I met Ben. I drummed in another band with Ben. He encouraged me to lift the guitar and write some stuff. That’s how this all started. He’s from more of a folk background, so it was a mismatch of music, but in the end it came out better than the sum of its parts.” For more on The Local, check out their Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/thelocal412/).  

Most of indie rock band Pittsburgh’s Same met at Clarion University and completed their roster after moving into the city, where they found Jake Stern, their guitarist. All of the guys in the band subscribe to a D.I.Y. philosophy. “All of us have always played in DIY-style bands since we were young. It just feels really natural to all of us for that to be our philosophy. That’s how we like to do things. That’s always how we have done it.” That’s Tom Higgins, guitarist for Same. Their new song “Is Midnight” has an alluring, yet chill vibe. “We try to have that laid-back vibe in our music. That’s definitely an influence of ours. I wouldn’t say all our music is –that- chill, but that was the intention of that song; to make it slow, use lots of reverbs and make it sound that way.” More on Same is at the Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/samepgh/%20) Photo by Tommy Calderon.

The bluesy garage-rock band Jack Swing is led by Isaiah Ross, who grew up surrounded by musicians, so it made sense to him to start rapping on stage at the age of 12. “I always had a musical family. My grandad was a jazz musician, he played sax. My mom was the first female rapper from Pittsburgh to drop a record. Jazzy Love, I think ’89 on that. She’s a principle now. I was always just around that; rapping made sense. I saw Notorious when I was really young. I felt really inspired by Biggie and wanted to do something musically, so I started doing that.” Ross, who went to Pittsburgh’s performing arts highschool, CAPA, made the transition from rap to rock rather seamlessly . “Rock and roll from a young age was always what inspired me musically, even though rap was where I felt like I needed to start. When I was 9 I remember hearing American Idiot for the first time and that being the craziest thing I’d ever heard.” Jack Swing plans on releasing a full length album this year. Find out more on their Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/jackswingpgh/)

After hearing the indie rock band Hear Tonight’s music, it’s no surprise that most of the members are influenced by pop-punk, aside from the odd man out: their guitarist. “I come from a jam-band background. I would come into bars and they would point at the chords on the ground and say “Okay, just solo when they’re not singing.” I started doing that when I was 15 or 16 and then it just evolved into riff writing. Then when it came together with [my bandmates’] other styles, it came to this unity that was really beautiful in a way. It created this unique sound. The catchiness of it comes from the “jammy” feel.” That’s Steve Grzenda, lead guitarist for Hear Tonight. The group met while attending California University of Pennsylvania. The name Hear Tonight was thought of thanks to the pressure of needing a band name before a live gig. “The first show we ever played, it was just me and Shane and I was just backing him up, it was under his name. We had one song, so we had to say: “When we announce this song, what’s gonna be the name?” What’s gonna sound good if they say “Oh here tonight, we have this band!” Then we were like, “Why don’t we just call ourselves Hear Tonight? We changed a [letter] because it’s almost like The Beatles, a little bit.” Hear Tonight’s new EP “Chasing The Rain” is out now and more on the band is at their website (https://heartonightband.com/).Photo by Shots By Linzi.

We’re stretching out to Youngstown, OH this week to meet The Vindys, a group that’s got a clear affinity for soul and jazz. “We all have jazz backgrounds. Scott and I met, we went to Slippery Rock University and did music education. I met Ed when I moved to Youngstown. We did our masters in Jazz Studies. Jackie, she did a music degree down in Daytona, a sound recording degree. Most of us in the group have some kind of training, academic-wise.” That’s John Anthony guitarist for The Vindys, who also have an interesting vocalist in Jackie Popovec. When listening, names like Ella Fitzgerald, Amy Winehouse and Gwen Stefani come to mind. “She always told us that she sat in her bedroom and tied to emulate all these different styles and almost tried to impersonate those singers. It was everyone from Brittany Spears to Gwen Stefani and then all the jazz singers. She was emulating all those things and then was able to find her voice in that. She copied everybody and then pick and choose what she liked to create her own voice.” The Vindys latest release is “Keep Going” and more information is at their website (https://thevindys.com/).

Formerly one half of the indie-folk do Broken Fences, Guy Russo was first drawn to the guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Metallica. Although, that’s not where his musicality landed: “When I was 16 I discovered Joni Mitchell. I realized that I’m a sensitive soul and not a very aggressive person. Over time, my musical style shifted more towards that affect.” While he was attending Carnegie Mellon, Russo realized he would need to figure out his plan post-graduation with his non-marketable degrees in linguistics and music. “I was hanging around campus and met the piano tuner for the school, his name is Peter and he’s also the piano tuner for the Pittsburgh Symphony. I asked him if he would get coffee with me and talk about his career. It turned out to be very well suited for me. To be independent, work with your hands and work with your instruments; you can carve out a pretty solid career. I’ve been doing it for 9 years now.” Guy Russo’s new album “Part of It All,” comes out 5 years after Broken Fences’ dissolution. He credits a local Pittsburgh recording studio’s generous gift in reigniting his desire to record music. “As a wedding gift, The Treelady guys, Garrett Haynes and Dave Hidek, gave me some studio time. That seemed like the impetus I needed from the universe to get my act together and start recording.” More on Guy Russo is at his website. (http://guyrusso.com/) Photo by Cory Morton. Check out Guy’s full interview on The Local 913 Podcast.  

Dinosoul is not your typical band. The spiritually charged indie rock group actually has a mission statement they recite at every live show. “I’m always big on intentions. Whenever I start something, I think it’s very important to see what your vision or your mission is because it brings you back to why you started it. It’s so easy to get off track and have people come into your life that [will] try to take over. If you don’t stick with what you sought out to do, it’s not going to work. I mean, sometimes it does work, but it’s really hard.” Carolyn Hilliard (keyboards/vocals) wrote Dinosoul’s mission statement: “Dinosoul’s vision is to let our music find the people who need it in their lives. We strive put our highest and truest energy out into the universe to allow it to connect to the souls who need to be touched. We and they will be exactly where each other needs to be. The universe is all knowing and has mysterious ways.. It knows who needs to hear our music when we refrain from expectations and control….just TRUST. We are a band who enjoys and believes in the power of music and the universe. We will not be forced, controlled or stressed. When this occurs, there is nothing that can be created freely and truly. Boundaries are put up. Jealousy, resentment, and competition take over. The universe is disharmonized. Trust is breached - an illusion is made.” Dinosoul has just released their debut album Eleven. More on the band is at their website. (https://www.dinosoulmusic.com/)

Mike Meiers, front man for Jackson River, found early musical inspiration from a Pittsburgh legend. "I was watching Mr. Rogers and I was really like “I NEED to do that.” It seemed like it was one thing I could do. Sports was never really a thing. I knew I couldn’t do that or had no interest. I started doing piano and before I knew it, music was something I felt like I could do. That started to define the thing that I could do and that I really enjoyed.” Meiers, who was also a runner up in WYEP’s singer-songwriter competition, eventually found his way to the guitar. “One day I was like “I need to be in a punk band. I can’t play piano.” I started doing guitar, started to figure out some power chords and started taking lessons. Then I started playing in punk bands, started a slew of them and started to tour. Yeah, that was the thing I did for a while.” Thanks to being a music teacher, Meiers has found himself exposed to a lot of styles of music. “Two of my students came in and were like “We wanna learn this song by this guy Jason Isbell.” And I was like “I’ve never heard of him.” I listened to “Flying Over Water,” and was like “This is amazing!” I started to listen to him and Drive-By Truckers. I started to go deeper into country and a lot of other folk. I started writing with my friend Jed… because he was really into country and folk. That transformed into Jackson River.” Be on the lookout for more new music from Jackson River, including a full length this year. More information is on their Facebook. (https://www.facebook.com/JacksonRiverMusic)

Raised outside of Atlanta, Georgia, singer-songwriter Rachel Lynne can never remember a time where she wasn’t creating music and writing songs. “I just always remember loving music and singing to myself, singing along. Any instrument around, I would just tinker around on it and play by ear. I never had a moment that I started writing that I can think of, it’s really weird. It’s something that’s always been inside of me. The more that happens to me and the more I grow and go through, I’m able to let music be my outlet. I just kind of starting creating stuff on my own.” Lynne, who’s recently been quietly taking the Pittsburgh music scene by storm, came to the city years ago on a whim. “I met someone through, actually, Myspace (laughs). I ended up visiting; I took a train here, a 28 hour train ride. It was kind of crazy cuz I’d never done anything like that before. It felt like a movie or something. I remember it was really cold when I got here! I just fell in love with the city more and more on every visit. On the fourth visit, I just told myself “Pittsburgh is so much fun and I need something new. If find a job while I’m down there, I’m just gonna move there.” I found a job within a week on Craigslist, so I just stayed.” Look out for Rachel Lynne opening for Lukas Nelson at the Arts Fest on June 6th and a future full length from the songwriter. More on Rachel Lynne is at her website. (http://www.rachellynnemusic.com/)

The Americana Rock band As Ladders is fronted by Mike Berginc, who originally was drawn to songwriting when he was in high school. “[I] just kind of developed my musings or my poetic tendencies into lyrics; I started with having a guitar around. [I had] a good appreciation for literature and mostly poetry starting out. [I] kind of developed that into a skill and started to write songs.” “Poetic tendencies” is not often something aligned with your average teen, but Berginc developed his interest while taking a poetry class. “That pushed me in the direction of, at least, having to appreciate it. Then in retrospect, a lot of the wisdom that’s in short verse poems, [my] appreciation [got] greater over time.” Berginc credits his mom for sparking his drive to play music at an early age. “My mom still plays music. Within my immediate family we have an upright player piano that doesn’t stay in tune, but it’s always been around which is kind of curious. But no one plays it. My mom being active within the community of music was a definite starter.” As Ladders’ debut album Alt Fiction is out May 11. More on the band is at their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/asladdersmusic/). Listen to the full conversation with Mike on The Local 913 Podcast. (http://wyep.org/local913podcast )

“It’s not depressing, I promise you, it’s not depressing. It’s just, you know, things happen and I smile at the end of it because you live through 100% of your worst days. So, here I am.” Pittsburgh rapper Benji., whose new album Smile You’re Alive marks his transition from his previous moniker Courtesy. After thinking it over for a long time, the artist decided to change his stage name to reflect something more personal. “My mom always called me Benji. It actually annoyed me for a long time, it was embarrassing. She would call me it in front of all my friends. I’m the baby boy, so you gotta give the baby boy a cute little nickname. My middle name is Benjamin, so she said “Benji.” There you go. What’s funny is that my real name is Ian and now everyone that ever has ever known me as Ian now calls me Benji, as if that was my name from the jump.” Benji. and his siblings, including his brother local producer and DJ Christo, grew up with two music-loving parents. “My parents would always play music in the house ranging from Earth, Wine and Fire to the Gap Band to Larry Graham and Graham Central Station. It fits me and my style, it’s very uppity and up-tempo. It made sense to bring my influences into what I do. Thundercat is probably my favorite artist of all time. He’s a bass player, I play the bass, as well. The way he’s able to create with his bass, playing it like a guitar, but on the basis of soul… I don’t know… I love funk music, it’s like my bread and butter.” Benji’s new album, Smile You’re Alive is out May 24th and more info is at his SoundCloud.

The folk group Buffalo Rose calls their style of music “folk and soul-grass,” folk for the tradition the continue with their harmonies and soul-grass from their backgrounds “We have three singers and all of us grew up singing in choirs. I think part of that choir-sensibility and the church choir sensibility that’s where the “soul” part comes from; A group of voices singing together in harmony. The “grass” comes from the country side. I mean, we have a slide guitar player…” Lucy Clabby is one of the three lead singers in Buffalo Rose, who doesn’t have a defacto leader. “We all think of ourselves as lead singers. We grew up listening to Nsync and Backstreet boys, so it didn’t seem foreign to us to have a group of singers all take the lead. We take turns, different singers take different verses depending on what the song calls for.” The band has an intense love of the natural world, which makes its way into their music. “We use nature metaphors and analogies to talk about what’s going on inside of us because it’s easier to process and think about an actual hurricane instead of the way you’re feeling. We take a lot from nature in order to express ourselves.” Buffalo Rose’s debut album is The Soil and The Seed.